The weekend and beyond

Find the causes and cures for your weekend travel delays, then look ahead to what you could face on your weekday commutes.

Metrorail weekend delays
Orange Line riders between Cheverly and Stadium-Armory should add a half hour to their normal travel times from 9:30 tonight (Friday) through the rail system's midnight closing on Sunday.

Blue and Yellow Line riders between Braddock Road and Van Dorn Street and between Braddock Road and Huntington should add half an hour to their normal trip times from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

During the maintenance disruption, the regular Blue and Yellow Line trains will operate to Huntington. Metro will operate a special Blue Line shuttle train between Franconia-Springfield and King Street. At King Street, riders can board Blue or Yellow Line trains to Largo or Fort Totten.

If you would normally park at Franconia-Springfield or Van Dorn Street, Metro suggests you park at Huntington to avoid the delays.

Metrobus detours
A construction project and an event are forcing some bus detours this weekend.

Routes 52 and V7: From 7 o'clock tonight (Friday) to 5 a.m. Monday, the buses will detour around road construction that will close D Street SW between 10th and 12th streets.

Howard University Football
A reader noted several weeks ago that the Bison games at Greene Stadium create lots of traffic in the Georgia Avenue corridor, so I've been waiting for the next home game to include here: It starts at 1 p.m. Saturday. The nearest Metro station is Shaw-Howard University, but it's a fairly good hike north on Georgia Avenue from the station to the stadium.

Other weekend games
At Verizon Center: The Caps play at 7 p.m. Saturday. The Wizards play at 1 p.m. Sunday. Games at Verizon mean crowding at the Gallery Place Metro station and congestion on the nearby streets of Chinatown.

Bridge repairs on Montgomery County
The Maryland State Highway Administration has launched a project to clean and paint six bridges. Over the next few months, look for off-peak lane closings at these locations:

Powder Mill Road widening
Next week, work is scheduled to begin on a $1.2 million road widening project along a half mile of Route 212 (Powder Mill Road) between Evans Trail Way/Allview Drive and Beltsville Drive in Beltsville. This should be done by next summer. One result will be a new center turn lane.

During construction, the State Highway Administration will close single lanes on Powder Mill on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. and overnight Sundays through Thursdays between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m.

I-95 ramp closed in Newington
Exit 166B to Alban Road from southbound I-95 has closed for one year, as part of the construction that will extend the Fairfax County Parkway to I-95. Drivers on southbound I-95 heading for Fullerton Road should use Exit 167, which is to the north of Exit 166B.

The exit closing, which allows workers to prepare for construction of a bridge that will take the parkway over Fullerton Road, is part of a larger detour scheduled to start tonight. During the overnight hours, the intersection of Fullerton Road and the Fairfax County Parkway will be completely closed. Drivers will be detoured to Boudinot Drive or a new road that links directly to the parkway. The segment of Fullerton Road between Backlick Road and the Fairfax County Parkway will be limited to local traffic. See more details and a map on this Commuter page.

Beltway at I-66
VDOT will close the Capital Beltway outer loop lanes at I-66 from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. Sunday through Thursday nights while crews install steel beams for a new bridge at I-66 East over the Beltway.

Veterans Day transit
These schedule advisories are from the Maryland Transit Administration.

MARC: Limited service. "S" service on Penn and Brunswick Lines only. No Camden Line Service.
Commuter bus: Limited service. Only routes designated with an "L" or "L/S" will operate.

Ocean City Expressway
Route 90 Is closed in both directions at the Ocean City Exwy Bridge till mid-December, because the bridge is being replaced. Traffic can't go east of Saint Martins Neck Road. The detour is to Route 50.

Nice Bridge back
The single-lane closings at the Route 301 bridge over the Potomac that originally were scheduled to continue till Nov. 13, ended ahead of scheduled and all travel lanes are open.

Route 7 in Tysons
Beginning Monday, the service road of eastbound Route 7 between Pike 7 Plaza and the Koons GM car dealership will start to close permanently. Crews working on the Metrorail extension are closing portions of the service road one at a time until this entire stretch is gone. More details here.

Tysons commuter bus starting
The first commuter bus service with a direct route from Woodbridge to Tysons starts Monday. The new buses, operated by PRTC's OmniRide and financed by the Virginia government, have a great introductory offer: They will be free the first week, then fares will be half the normal OmniRide price for six months. Commuters using SmarTrip cards will pay $2.40 per trip while those using cash will pay $3. (Plus, they'll have free WiFi.) See more details here.

The Blue and Yellow Line work Saturday is likely to affect people going TO the Caps game, especially if the work doesn't end on time. Ted Leonsis is hosting a presentation for season-ticket holders at 5:00 at the arena, so anyone going to that via the Metro ought to plan ahead.

About the MTA Veterans Day schedule: Does anyone know if Amtrak will honor MARC Monthly passes on Veterans Day? I know that when MARC service is not running on a holiday, Amtrak doesn't honor them, but I don't know if Amtrak will honor them when MARC is running a partial schedule.